Since you're playing with third-party kernels on top of RHEL 5, why not try the ones from ELRepo? I've used their kernels on a RHEL 6 system to get bleeding-edge USB 3.0 support and they've been great on two systems (nothing production). I've not used their kernels for RHEL 5 (which have a few caveats), but it might help you out.
http://elrepo.org/tiki/kernel-ml /Brian/ -- Brian Long | | Corporate Security Programs Org . | | | . | | | . ' ' C I S C O On Aug 30, 2012, at 8:20 AM, Nuno Fernandes wrote: > On 08/30/2012 12:51 PM, Bryan J Smith wrote: >> Nuno Fernandes <npf-mli...@eurotux.com> wrote: >>> Yes.. that coud happen. >> >> Maybe I should step back ... >> What are your _requirements_? I.e., what is driving you to do this? >> >> What is preventing you from going with an actual, full EL6 platform >> (with the Red Hat 2.6.32 kABI) instead of attempting to mix'n match on >> an EL5 platform (with the Red Hat 2.6.18 kABI)? >> >>> I've upgraded some packages also (mkinitrd and udev) and they can be the >>> origin >>> of the problem. I'm still on the process of figuring why. >> >> And where did you get them from? Is this mix'n match documented somewhere? >> >>> To find the problem i've changed the initrd of 2.6.32 to include bash and a >>> few other tools (mknod, dmesg, ls, cat etc). Because i don't have ssh to it >>> you can find the images on: >>> http://troll.ws/image/b4003dd8 >>> http://troll.ws/image/201f0253 >> >> I'd look, but I have a much greater concern now. >> >> I.e., even if you get it to boot, what sort of "unit" tested non-EL5 >> kABI do we now have? >> That's before we even visit the EL5 "integration" and "regression" >> testing variables. >> And what happens when you attempt further EL5 platform updates? >> >>> The images are from 2.6.39uek kernel (i was trying with that kernel because >>> Oracle creates packages for el5 and to see if a newer kernel worked). >> >> Wait. Now hold on ... >> You're trying to use a 2.6.39uek kernel? toolset? With a 2.6.32 kernel? >> (even before we consider this is still EL5, an 2.6.18 kABI designed platform) >> And with which package replacements from where? And is this >> documented anywhere? >> >> Now I cannot answer about the compatibility issues with community >> and/or community releases downstream from Red Hat Enterprise Linux >> that mix'n match what they want, and are not even built to be 1:1 >> ABI/API compatible. I.e., the last time I checked, Oracle does not >> publicly release the binary Unbreakable Enterprise Kernel (UEK) or any >> support packages that differ, but only their claimed "Red Hat >> compatible" kernels and support packages (that they claim to be 1:1 >> ABI/API compatible). >> >> Which is why I need a full accounting of where you are getting >> everything and from what, what versions, etc... Otherwise I'm >> shooting completely in-the-dark. >> >>> What can i do to debug this? >> >> You could start by giving _detailed_ answers on: >> A) Your actual requirements (what is driving this), and >> B) Where you are getting _everything_ (not just kernel, but mkinitrd, >> udev, etc... replacements) >> >> I have absolutely no benchmark to start from with this level of >> information (total lackthereof). I cannot even advise if they are >> remotely compatible. >> >> >> -- >> Bryan J Smith - Professional, Technical Annoyance >> http://www.linkedin.com/in/bjsmith >> >> _______________________________________________ >> rhelv5-list mailing list >> rhelv5-list@redhat.com >> https://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/rhelv5-list >> > > Let me then start from the beginning... We are creating an opensource > virtualization solution called Nuxis (http://nuxis.com/). This solution is > based on Centos5 + some of our packages (mostly web interface and libvirt > connector (GPLv2)). We support KVM and Xen. > > I our local setup we've upgraded xen to a more recent version > (xen-4.1.3-1.el5) because of some security issues. We were using xen 4.1.2. > We've also upgrade some userland packages, so kernel/KABI remains in 2.6.18. > For xen packages we used the gitco repository (http://www.gitco.de/repo/) > that provides xen replacements and updates for centos5. > > After the recent upgrade we are having problems starting virtual machines > (yes, i can ask in xen-users Mailling list) but i think that the problem is > in Dom0 kernel because we see logs of the type: > > "xen be core: xen be core: can't open gnttab device" > > And googling it points to an old Dom0 kernel. To debug this problem i tried > different new kernels (2.6.32-xen and 2.6.39uek). I know that the change in > kernel will change KABI but for debuging purposes i'm ok with that. To > install those kernels i've installed the oracle linux repo that points to: > > # cat /etc/yum.repos.d/uek.repo > [uek] > name=Oracle Linux $releasever - U6 - $basearch - base > baseurl=http://public-yum.oracle.com/repo/OracleLinux/OL5/UEK/latest/$basearch/ > gpgkey=http://public-yum.oracle.com/RPM-GPG-KEY-oracle-el5 > gpgcheck=1 > enabled=1 > > [ol5] > name=Oracle Linux $releasever - U6 - $basearch - base > baseurl=http://public-yum.oracle.com/repo/OracleLinux/OL5/latest/$basearch/ > gpgkey=http://public-yum.oracle.com/RPM-GPG-KEY-oracle-el5 > gpgcheck=1 > enabled=1 > > And installed kernel-uek: > > Aug 22 22:26:46 Updated: kpartx-0.4.9-46.0.5.el5.x86_64 > Aug 22 22:26:47 Installed: > device-mapper-multipath-libs-0.4.9-46.0.5.el5.x86_64 > Aug 22 22:26:47 Updated: device-mapper-multipath-0.4.9-46.0.5.el5.x86_64 > Aug 22 22:26:47 Installed: oraclelinux-release-5-8.0.2.x86_64 > Aug 22 22:26:48 Installed: kernel-uek-firmware-2.6.39-100.5.1.el5uek.noarch > Aug 22 22:26:48 Installed: 1:busybox-1.2.0-13.el5.centos.x86_64 > Aug 22 22:26:48 Installed: kexec-tools-1.102pre-154.el5.x86_64 > Aug 22 22:26:49 Installed: ql2xxx-firmware-1.01.01-0.3.el5.noarch > Aug 22 22:26:49 Updated: udev-095-14.27.0.3.el5_7.1.x86_64 > Aug 22 22:27:05 Installed: kernel-uek-2.6.39-100.5.1.el5uek.x86_64 > Aug 27 15:05:27 Updated: kernel-uek-firmware-2.6.39-200.29.2.el5uek.noarch > Aug 27 15:05:43 Updated: kernel-uek-2.6.39-200.29.2.el5uek.x86_64 > > Next i've tried to boot it and the problem of kernel panic starts. I've tried > with 2.6.32 with same results. I've also tried without xen (as 2.6.39uek is > able to boot also without xen) booting the kernel normaly) and it's the same. > > Hope it helps, > > Best regards and thanks for any debug ideas. > Thanks, > Nuno Fernandes > > _______________________________________________ > rhelv5-list mailing list > rhelv5-list@redhat.com > https://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/rhelv5-list _______________________________________________ rhelv5-list mailing list rhelv5-list@redhat.com https://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/rhelv5-list
